Eco Friendly Outdoor Furniture

Peggy Farabaugh 2 Comments

Last updated on January 25th, 2020 at 08:50 am

For five years our customers have been asking us to offer eco-friendly outdoor furniture that meets the same high quality standards that our handcrafted, Vermont made indoor furniture does.  I’m sorry for the delay… we weren’t ignoring you.  We just had a lot of research and soul searching to do.

The issue with outdoor furniture is that the really high quality, solid wood furniture we were considering is of questionable origin.  Teak and mahogany are about the only types of wood that would meet our standards for weather resistance and longevity but they are both rainforest woods that are often harvested illegally and unsustainably.  Our company mission is founded on forest conservation principles and we’ve made the decision not to offer outdoor furniture made of rainforest woods.

After researching all the alternatives we selected a wood-alternative material for our first outdoor furniture line.  It’s called poly wood and is made of recycled beverage containers.  Instead of clear-cutting engandered rainforests to make our furniture, we’re taking plastic out of the waste stream.  We see that as a WIN-WIN situation for the customer and the environment.

Quattro
Our Quattro 7-Piece Dining Set in Satin White/Sand

Have a look at our new outdoor patio furniture collection as it comes online.  We’re just starting the process of getting everything ready for the Spring season, but you can still get a good idea of what’s to come.  Let me know what you think of poly wood and whether you would consider it for your outdoor patio, deck or garden.  It’s not real wood, but it wears even better than wood– so well, that we’re able to give it a lifetime guarantee just like our indoor furniture.  It’s good stuff– check it out!

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Natural Cherry Wood Furniture Characteristics: Mineral Deposits

Peggy Farabaugh 1 Comment

Last updated on January 25th, 2020 at 08:50 am

natural cherry wood
Our American Shaker Large Sideboard in natural cherry wood.

Let’s talk about natural cherry wood furniture.

Today I wanted to provide some detail about naturally occurring mineral deposits that are a characteristic of cherry.

In cherry wood small black flecks occur in the grain where tiny amounts of sap were stored in the cherry tree.

natural cherry wood
You can see on these panels the little pockets where sap once lived.

Mineral deposits (or pitch pockets) are natural and randomly occurring.  They do not diminish the strength or quality of your furniture.  As we say: they add to its uniqueness.

The frequency of mineral deposits in our furniture varies with each tree utilized but it is largely reflected in the product photos here and throughout our website.  Like any other fine furniture maker we cannot guarantee the absence of mineral deposits in our cherry wood furniture and we cannot consider the presence of mineral deposits a reason for furniture returns, per our lifetime guarantee policy.

natural cherry wood
Our Loft Bedroom Collection in natural cherry wood. Note the mineral deposits on the two bottom left drawers of the dresser.

Looking for Cherry Furniture with Virtually No Mineral Deposits?

Most of our furniture makers are reluctant to offer cherry furniture without mineral deposits for a couple reasons. First, it is against our sustainable forestry principles.  Up to five times the number of trees need to be harvested to produce furniture with virtually no mineral deposits.  Second, the presence of mineral deposits in cherry wood can be a matter of opinion.  What one customer might feel was mineral-deposit free furniture may not be the same for another customer.

If mineral deposits are an issue for you, give us a call.  We’ll work something out… although I should mention that the price of a “virtually mineral deposit-free” piece is generally about twice that of the regular piece.

natural cherry wood

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Rebuilding the Economy on a Green Foundation

Peggy Farabaugh Leave a comment

Last updated on October 27th, 2019 at 10:24 am

As we start picking up the pieces of our broken economy and trying to sort through them, what kinds of changes will we make to avoid another meltdown?  We’ve unwittingly become such ravenous consumers, that we’ve gotten accustomed to forsaking quality in our purchases for instant gratification at the expense of frequent disposal and replacement.

We hear people say things like, “I like to freshen up my home and replace my furniture every few years to stay up with the trends.”  In the furniture business, we call those disposable purchases curbside furniture.

If you’re lucky enough to have antiques and heirlooms that have been handed down to you through the generations, I’ll bet that even after 50-100 or more years, you’ll find the quality of those items to be superior to that of today’s equivalent.

Rebuilding the economy on a green foundation is going to involve a cultural shift away from cheap, imported, transitory goods in favor of high-quality, long-lasting, timeless items that are crafted from sustainable resources and sold near the source with a minimum of transportation and fuel costs.  Green American furniture companies are leading the way toward this kind of a paradigm shift.  We have the sustainable resources, the talent, the facilities and the will to make it happen.  Visit the Sustainable Furniture Council to learn more.

Vermont Woods Studios.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.